Business office accessory



M. R. STOHL BUSINESS OFFICE ACCESSORY Jan. 13, 1970 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 8, 1968 wax INVENTOR.

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BUSINESS OFFICE ACCESSORY Filed Feb. 8, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. "Ton R.STOHL ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,489,324 BUSINESS OFFICE ACCESSORY Milton Robert Stohl, Greenwich, Conn., assignor to Borden, Inc., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Feb. 8, 1968, Ser. No. 703,957 Int. Cl. B26f 3/02; B65h 36/10 US. Cl. 225-37 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to an accessory comprising first and second half shells, each of which has a base and depending interconnecting sidewalls along each edge of said base, said second half shell sidewalls being receivable in the sidewalls of the first half shell whereby a compartment is formed, releasable mounting means on the under side of the base of the first half shell, a shaft projecting upwardly from the base of the first half shell, mounting means concentric with said shaft adapted to rotatably mount a plurality of tape rolls at a spaced position from said base of said first half shell, aperture means in the compartment whereby the tape may be unreeled from therewithin, and cutter means disposed at a position spaced from said compartment whereby the tape be severed.

Background of the invention Heretofore, many nuisances have occurred on the surfaces in a typical business office, such as desk tops, file cabinet tops and other related surfaces. More particularly, the presence of such items as ash trays, tape dispensers, lamps, staplers and other desk top articles have persistently cluttered the working area on the surface, causing inconvenience and not infrequently, loss of working time. 7

Another problem that has arisen in business offices has been in the manual usage of tape dispensers. More specifically, the light weight of the dispenser has required that the operator use both hands to withdraw the tape from the reel mounted in the dispenser. Usually, one hand is placed on the tape dispenser to prevent same from sliding along the desk top while the other hand applies a force to unreel the tape from its spool and thereafter to sever the tape once the desired length has been unwound. Additionally, conventional tape dispensers generally contain only one reel of tape, thus requiring frequent replacement with the consequent loss in working time. Finally, the heretofore known tape dispensers have usually been esthetically unappealing, generally detract from the appearance of the desk top on which they rest and are extremely large and heavy.

Summary of the invention The present invention contemplates an embodiment which overcomes the heretofore stated disadvantages 'of the known desk top items used in offices by consolidating a number of necessary office accessories, which would otherwise clutter the desk surface, into one esthetically pleasing configuration. More particularly, the present invention suggests a new and novel tape dispenser which has in the upper base portion thereof an ash tray. The dispenser includes a compartment which stores a plurality of tapes so that as one is used, another tape may be quickly made operable to obviate wastage of time. Moreover, the present accessory overcomes the problems of a user of a tape dispenser being forced to occupy both hands to remove tape from the roll.

Briefly stated, the present invention relates to an accessory comprising first and second half shells, each half shell having a base and depending interconnecting sidewalls, said first half shell having releasable mounting 3,489,324 Patented Jan. 13, 1970 means on the underside of the base thereof, a shaft projecting upwardly from the base of said first half shell at the center thereof, mounting means for a plurality of tape rolls concentric with the shaft and in a plane parallel to the base and spaced therefrom, said second half shell being receivable within the sidewalls of the first half shell to form a compartment in which the tape rolls and mounting means are encased, aperture means in the first half shell in the plane of the concentric mounting means to allow removal of the tape from within the compartment, and cutter means disposed at a point spaced from the compartment adapted to sever the tape by the user.

Brief description of the drawings The various features of the apparatus of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description set forth in connection with the accompanying drawings which relate to the preferred embodiment of the present invention and are given by way of illustration.

FIGURE 1 is an isometric perspective view of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a side perspective view of the present invention.

FIGURE 4 is an exploded view of the details of the plural tape roll mountings and ballast means of the present invention.

FIGURE 5 is a top view with the second shell portion removed.

Detailed description of the invention Referring now to the preferred embodiment illustrated in FIGURE 1, there is shown the ash tray tape dispenser or business ofiice accessory 10. The accessory comprises a first half shell portion 11 and a second half shell portion 12 which are engageable to form a compartment, as is best seen in FIGURE 1.

The first half shell 11 includes a triangular base 13 having a circular recessed portion 14 at the midpoint thereof. An upwardly projecting tubular shaft member 15 is integrally formed with portion 14 in the center of the base and defines a central axis for the half shell. Concentric with the upwardly projecting tube 15 is a second tubular member 16 integral with the edge of the circular recessed portion 14 which includes an opening 47 at one area of the circumferential face. The base 13 has along the edges thereof interconnected, outwardly and upwardly projecting sidewall members 17 which terminate in vertically disposed sidewalls 18. The inner edges of the vertically disposed sidewalls include a shoulder 19 which defines a continuous ledge along the inner periphery of the interconnected sidewalls. In the horizontal plane where the vertically disposed sidewall portion intersects the vertically projecting portion 18 and at one of the apexes of the triangular base is a horizontal, outwardly projecting surface 20, as is best seen in FIGURE 4. The surface 20 is supported on the sidewalls by a gusset member 21, shown in FIGURE 2, Inwardly projecting, arcuately formed sidewalls 22 on the inner edge of the surface 20 define an aperture 33 therebetween for access to the shell interior (see FIGURE 5). A T-shaped support member 23 is disposed at the outer edge of the horizontally projecting surface 20 and mounts a double-edged blade 24.

The upwardly projecting tube 15 is provided with a shoulder 25 which lies in a horizontal plane of reference slightly above the plane of the surface 20, A plurality of stubs 26 are secured to the outer circumferential face of the tubular member 1 6 and define a shoulder which lies in the same plane as shoulder 25. In the area between the concentric tube 16 and the upwardly projecting tube 15,

a cavity 27 is formed. It should of course, be observed that the opening 47 in the tubular member 16 is aligned with the aperture 33 between inwardly projecting sidewalls 22.

Turning now to the exploded view of FIGURE 4, there is illustrated a ballast or Weight disc 28 comprised of a heavy material such as lead or the like having a .bore therein which is of a slightly greater diameter than the tubular member and is adapted to rest within the cavity 27. Tape rolls 29 and 30, the latter having a greater inner diameter than the outer diameter of the former, are adapted to rest on the shoulder and the stub 26 respectively and accordingly lie in the same horizontal plane. The tape from roll is unreeled and drawn through the aperture 33 and severed on the cutting blade 24 when in use. When the tape from this roll has been exhausted, the empty roll is simply removed, and the tape from the roll 29 on shoulder 25 is dawn through the opening 47 in the concentric mounting means 16 and there through aperture 33 in the same fashion as tape from roll 30.

A plurality of suction cups 31 are provided on the underside of the base 13 (in the preferred embodiment three members are used at the respective points on the triangular base 13) and are secured to the base by screw means 32. It should be apparent that the ballast or the weight disc exerts a downward, gravitational force on the suction cups 31 to insure that firm suctional engagement to a non-porous surface by the accessory is maintained as well as to insure non-slippage on a porous surface. Accordingly, the user of the dispenser need only unreel the tape with one hand and draw it across the cutting or serrated edges of the cutting blade 24 to form strips of usable tape.

Turning next to the second half shell 12, it is observed that the base member 34 is provided with interconnected sidewalls 35 projecting downwardly thereform. As in the case of the base 13, the base 34 of the second half shell 12 is a substantially triangular configuration with a cutout portion at one of the angles. Arcuately formed sidewalls 37 are provided along the base edge of the cutout portion and are interconnected with the sidewalls 35. An aperture 38 is formed between the sidewalls 37 in a fashion substantially similar to that between the sidewalls 22 on the first shell 11. Each of the sidewalls 35 and 37 terminates in a flange 36 which is continuous about the lower edge of the sidewalls. It should be appreciated that the continuous flange 36 on the sidewalls 35 and 37 is spaced inwardly and is received within the vertically disposed walls 18 of the first half shell 11 and is adapted to rest on or be adhered to the ledge 19. Accordingly, the ballast 28 and rolls 29 and 30 are encased within a compartment formed by these two mating half shells.

A vertically inclined portion 39 projects upwardly and inwardly on the base 34 and terminates in a circular ledge 40 about an aperture formed in the base. A shelf 41 is defined above the ledge 40 by inclined portion 39 and a circular ash tray 42 fits in the aperture and rests on the ledge. The circular ash tray includes a vertically outwardly projecting rim 43 to define the edges of the receptacle. A rolled circular portion 44 including a plurality of notches 46 for conveniently holding the cigarette or cigar is provided within the receptacle. A flat, planar portion within the roll 44 receives the bulk of the ashes to be flicked from the end of a cigarette or cigar and received in the ash tray. It should thus be apparent that the accessory defined, when mounted on the desk top in an office, provides a convenient, immovable dispenser for rolls of tape, as well as an ash tray for cigarettes and the like.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been herein illustrated and described, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be incorporated into the details of production without departing from the principles herein set forth;

What is claimed is:

1. An accessory comprising first and second half shells, each half shell having a base and depending interconnecting sidewalls on each edge of said base, said first half shell having releasable mounting means on the underside of the base thereof adapted to secure said first half shell to a surface; a shaft projecting upwardly from said base of said first half shell at the center thereof and defining an axis; mounting means concentric with said axis adapted to rotatably mount a plurality of tape rolls in a plane parallel to said base of said first portion and spaced therefrom, said first half shell including an outwardly projecting surface in the plane of the concentric mounting means, said sidewalls of said second half shell being receivable within the sidewalls of said first shell whereby the half shells jointly form a compartment; aperture means formed in said first half shell in the plane of the concentric mounting means at the point where the outwardly projecting surface meets the first half shell; cutter means disposed on said outwardly projecting surface whereby a tape is unreeled from within the compartment through the aperture means and severed by said cutter means.

2. The accessory according to claim 1 wherein said base of the second half shell includes a recessed portion which projects inwardly into said compartment.

3. The accessory according to claim 1 wherein said sidewalls of said first half shell includes an inwardly projecting ledge on which rests the sidewalls of the second half shell in-the compartment-forming position.

4. The accessory according to claim 1 wherein said releasable mounting means is a plurality of suction cups mounted in each of the corners of said base of said first shelf shell.

5. The accessory according to claim 4 including spacing ballast concentric with said axis, said ballast cooperating with said suction cups to insure rigid securement of the first half shell to said surface as Well as mounting said rolls of tape a spaced distance from said base of said first half shell.

6. The accessory according to claim 1 wherein the bases of said first and second half shells are triangular shaped.

7. The accessory according to claim '6 wherein said outwardly projecting surface intersects said first half shell at one of the angles formed by the sidewalls.

8. The accessory according to claim 6 wherein each of said sidewalls of said first half shell includes a section extending upwardly and outwardly from said base and which terminates in a section normal to the plane of said base.

9. The accessory according to claim 8 wherein said section normal to the plane of said base includes inwardly projecting ledge means adapted to support the sidewalls of said second half shell, said ledge means lying in approximately the plane of said concentric mounting means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,414,915 1/ 1947 Ziegler 22547 X 2,476,593 7/1949 Gerbing 225-44 X 2,699,251 1/ 1955 Rizza 22534 3,021,987 2/1962 Scholtz 225-44 X 3,152,739 10/ 1964 McWilliams 225-46 FRANK T. YOST, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

